


Pretending (But Not Really)

by shippasfuxk



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Celebrity, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Lesbian Cheryl Blossom, Love, cheryl blossom - Freeform, choni, thisissolong, toni topaz - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-16 07:01:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29328192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shippasfuxk/pseuds/shippasfuxk
Summary: Everyone loves a celebrity fake dating AU, right?Cheryl is an actress who is getting more roles than she can count, and Toni is a younger up and coming actress who got cast as her love interest. Toni needs good publicity after a few poor run ins with the police and paparazzi, and Cheryl is loved by the public. When their publicity teams blindside them with a plan to get them and their movie publicity, what could go wrong?
Relationships: Cheryl Blossom & Toni Topaz, Cheryl Blossom/Toni Topaz
Kudos: 59





	Pretending (But Not Really)

Cheryl walks on to the first day of filming for a run through of the first scene. Her assistant reminds her the names of everyone else on the movie and she tries to get all of their names down before she walks into the table read. 

She hugs everyone she's familiar with, even some of the crew, but there's one person she doesn't recognize- the person who she's supposed to be having pretty intimate scenes with in the coming weeks. 

Before she can introduce herself, the girl actually walks over to her and sticks her hand out, "Hi, I'm Toni Topaz, I'm pretty much who you'll be out-acting throughout this entire movie." She takes Toni's warm hand and blushes at the compliment (she thinks) that Toni gave her. 

"Nice to meet you, Toni, but I've seen you before and I think you'll be giving me some competition." Cheryl finishes it off with her perfect fake smile and watches Toni's cheeks heat up. 

"You can let go of my hand now." Cheryl says after a second and Toni pulls her hand back quickly. 

"Sorry." Toni takes another step back, "I wouldn't have expected you to have watched any of that indie junk I was in before." Toni scratches the back of her neck and blushes deeper. 

"Well of course I did, you were nominated for Best Supporting Actress." Cheryl says back and Toni flushes and shakes her head. 

"No, no, please don't bring that up. I had no chance of winning it, it was just nice to be there and all that." Toni is bashful all of a sudden, and she waves her hands around while she talks so her nerves are overlooked..

Cheryl laughs at her. Toni is kind of endearing in all of her short, pink-haired, rosy cheeked existence. She thinks she may not have to worry about working with her inexperienced co-star. At least not as much as the media has been saying about her. 

"Well I'm gonna grab a coffee, but I think we're sitting next to each other anyway so I'll see you in a second." Cheryl says and walks over to pour herself a coffee. Toni shuffles over to her seat and takes a sip of her water. Cheryl can tell she's nervous for her first big role and she really feels for her. She takes a seat next to her pink-haired costar and flicks through the script in front of her. 

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Toni tapping her fingers on the table and staring down at her script. Cheryl reaches out and flicks her hand, "You nervous?" she asks and tries to distract Toni. 

"Yeah" Toni breathes out, "very. I'm like, the least valuable person in this room."

"Relax, Topaz. You've done table reads before, that's all this is." Cheryl says and Toni nods, "Yeah. Just a table read."

Cheryl watches as Toni chokes through her introduction, but recovers and absolutely kills her part at the table read. She's the perfect person for her character, and it's obvious she practiced this script to the best of her ability. 

"So, what's the rest of this script about?" Toni leans over and whispers to Cheryl during a scene neither of them are in. 

Cheryl's eyebrows draw together in confusion, "What, you can't read?" 

Toni chuckles out of surprise with her attitude, "I can read, thank you." Toni pushes her script over and Cheryl laughs as quietly as she can so she doesn't disrupt anyone who is still paying attention. "They gave you the redacted version?"

She rolls her eyes, "Yes. I spoiled just a tiny bit of one of my other movies, so they don't want me to do the same for this one." Cheryl laughs again Toni sits back in her chair with a pout. 

After the table read is over, hours later, Toni and Cheryl say that they'll see each other on set next week and go their separate ways.

\- 

Later that week, Toni is sitting in a conference room with her management, unsure who she is meeting with. She kind of just goes where they tell her, and gets in the car when it shows up to her house. She prefers driving, but after she was accused of drinking and driving by the police officer that pulled her over and the TMZ reports that followed, she wasn't allowed to drive much anymore. 

Toni is spinning around in her chair while her manager remains patient and explains how the rest of the day will go, when Cheryl walks in. Toni pulls a face, "Cheryl? What are you doing here?" she asks, talking over her manager- who is obviously used to this by now. 

"Could ask you the same thing..." Cheryl trails off and takes off her big sunglasses. Toni is in awe of her, really. She looks like she just walked out of a commercial; she's wearing black pants and a cheetah print jacket, who wears that on a normal Tuesday??

Toni kicks out the chair next to her and nods to it. Cheryl scoffs, but gets the point and sits takes the seat. "I'm sure they'll all tell us why we're here in a minute." Toni says and starts bouncing in her chair. 

Their publicists and managers shake hands and Cheryl is suspicious, "How do you all know each other?" she asks and they all clamor at once, mostly a mix of 'publicity things', or 'connections', yet Cheryl still has her doubts. She doesn't get why Toni is in this meeting. 

Cheryl is much more attentive than Toni in the meeting, which is a shock to absolutely no one. The redhead looks at her publicist skeptically and the woman only shrugs back. After a while of explanation, Cheryl can see where this is going; publicity. Probably some PR stunt for the movie. She's been able to get out of these before with her weird guy love interests, but she doesn't think they'll let her off the hook here. Her team has done all the work, presenting it perfectly and finding publicity every possible way.

Toni is still staring down at her paper and tapping her knee, but she looks up when she hears "Your first date will be.."

"Fake dating?" she immediately interrupts and looks to Cheryl, "Have you ever done this before?" and Cheryl shakes her head, "No."

"So wait, why do we have to do this? I wasn't paying attention." Toni asks and Cheryl scoffs, "shocker." Toni shoots a smirk back at her and waits for all of the important people in front of her to answer her question. 

"Look! You two already have chemistry." Cheryl scoffs and Toni blurts out, "yeah right."

"You do have chemistry." Cheryl's manager insists, "and you have to do this so the movie does well. Also, Cheryl finally dating a woman publicly will be good for her career, and Toni needs good publicity to follow the not so good media she's gotten in the past." the woman in the pantsuit says it as if it's final, and it kind of scares Toni. Every member of their teams chips in with a thought of their own, and when they finally finish, they leave Cheryl and Toni to talk themselves. 

Cheryl sighs and swivels her chair to face Toni. 

"So what did they mean finally dating a woman?" Toni asks with a little smirk and Cheryl answers with another question, "What do they mean about bad publicity?"

Toni's lips quirk up, "I know I'm laughing, but it's not funny. I'm sure you've seen it all." she waves her hand and Cheryl nods, "Yeah I have. And I do date women, I just haven't publicly. Don't make me sound like a prude." Toni spins in her chair again, "So what do you think of it all, then?" she asks.

Cheryl sits up, "I don't know. I've gotten out of these things before, like when it was with guys I just came out on a talk show with out the approval of my team." she raises her eyebrows and Toni laughs, "And I thought you were the good one out of us two. Were they pissed?"

"Evidently I am the good one compared to you. And yes, but it got me publicity, didn't it?" Cheryl smirks and Toni of course jokes because she can't take anything serious, "So when are you gonna come out as straight to avoid fake-dating me?"

Cheryl shakes her head, "No, I guess it wouldn't be the worst to fake date you, besides the obvious immaturity and the whole 'bad-girl' thing you have going on. My fans might think I've gone off the rails."

Toni is shocked for a second before she smiles, "Jeez straight to the point, huh Blossom." she pretends to wipe her forehead sweat and continues, "Well, I don't have any reservations about fake dating you, you're out of my league in real life anyway. My like, six total fans will approve, I think."

Cheryl smirks, "well thanks, I guess. Maybe I'll take back all of those things I said about you."

"Only some?" and Cheryl nods "Well I could think of some rude things if you want." Toni says with a little shrug. 

She looks quietly through the paper schedule they gave her, highlighting their 'dating' life together while Toni bounces in her chair.

After about fifteen minutes, Toni's assistant knocks lightly. When she walks in, she sees Toni with her legs up on the table, and her head rested on the back of the chair, sleeping. Cheryl is typing away on her phone and looks up when the woman knocks. 

"Yeah, she's been asleep for like ten minutes." Cheryl points to her, "want me to wake her up?"

Her assistant, Maggie, laughs "Yes, please. I was going to push her off her chair but I'd love to see what you have planned."

Cheryl stands up on her tip toes and ties Toni's shoes together, and when they're tied tightly she pushes her feet off the table. The chair jerk back and Toni jump's up...and promptly fall right over because of her laces tied together. 

Maggie and Cheryl start laughing right away, at Toni face down on the floor. The pink-haired girl rolls over and pouts, making them laugh even harder. 

"That was so not funny." Toni says and kicks her sneakers off. The pink haired girl looks groggy and rubs at her eyes; Cheryl feels bad after a second and reaches her hand out for Toni to take. Toni sulks but takes her hand and lets herself be pulled up by Cheryl, "That wasn't very girlfriend-y of you." she whispers in Cheryl's ear and turns to her assistant. 

"I'm going to assume it's time for my next meeting?" Toni asks and throws one of her shoes at her assistant, who ducks as if she's used to it and nods.

Toni leaves and misses the way Cheryl flushes at her flirtatious little comment when she goes. Cheryl really wouldn't mind fake-dating Toni. The girl may be immature but it's in a cute, innocent, and very unexpected way. Toni acts pretty innocent for the wild assumptions the media spreads about her; there are rumors about her being Hollywood's newest womanizer, rumors she went to rehab late last year, and rumors that generally suggest that she just isn't a very good person. Cheryl finds herself already trusting Toni more than anything she hears from anyone else. 

\- 

The next day is the first day of shooting, and Cheryl has been waiting outside Toni's outrageous mansion for twenty minutes already. 

"Could you honk again? Longer this time? I'm so sorry." Cheryl apologizes and looks out the window to look for Toni again. She rolls her eyes when Toni comes running out of her house, still buttoning up her shirt on her way down the stairs. She doesn't mind as much when she gets a glimpse of Toni's abs as she buttons up her shirt. 

Toni jumps in the car with apologies already flying out of her mouth by the time the door closes. 

"Perpetually late. I'll add that to the list." Cheryl looks over her phone at Toni, who is pretty much cowering in the corner. 

"Cheryl I'm so-"

Toni's millionth apology is interrupted by Cheryl gasping, "Toni, oh my god who is that girl sneaking out your side door!!" she sits up and tries to look out the window. Toni pushes her away, "No, no, no. Don't look. Please."

"Fine." Cheryl crosses her arms and fakes a pout, "I just can't believe you're fake-cheating on me already." 

"Stop!" Toni pushes Cheryl's shoulder away, "if you want to get technical, we aren't fake-dating yet. Just the fake-talking stage."

"Well you better break things off with your real one night stand first." Cheryl can barely get the line out before cracking up.

Toni rolls her eyes, "Oh please stop talking about it." she covers her ears and refuses to take them off until Cheryl stops talking. 

Cheryl kicks her shin from across the car and she takes her hands off slowly, "I'll add stubborn and childish to the list." she smirks and Toni's head falls back on the seat with a groan "There's a list?' 

"Oh yeah. Every fake girlfriend has a list."

The ride is quick, and Toni is bored for most of it. Cheryl is reading a book she pulled out of her bag ten minutes ago, and Toni is scrolling through her phone. But after another a minute or two, she throws her phone down and just stares at Cheryl until the redhead notices. 

Cheryl didn't straighten her hair like it was the other times, and it looks a little messy in an absurdly attractive way. Toni can only see her eyes and up and she can tell that Cheryl is pouting in concentration, her light brown eyes are flying across the pages and she's flipping through them much faster than Toni would. 

"You read fast." is what Toni says and Cheryl puts her book down on her lap. 

"I could probably read faster if you didn't stare at me like that." Cheryl cocks her head to the side, "You know, you should start bringing things to do on set. Independent films have strict schedules. Big budget films waste a ton of money just having us sit around in our trailers." 

Toni hums, "I'll make sure I bring my crayons and coloring book next time."

Cheryl throws her book at her, "You are so difficult." Toni chuckles and swats the book away, "You have a few months and a couple love scenes to get used to it." Toni winks and Cheryl smiles. 

"This might be a fun movie to make." she says and takes her book back from Toni. 

\- 

Cheryl has the most scenes out of the both of them, and Toni pretty much follows her everywhere around set. 

Toni is impressed with the size of her trailer when she first gets on set; she's a minor character anyway, kind of an accessory to Cheryl's, so she was not expecting an actual space to accommodate her. There's even a couch she can sleep on when she doesn't need to be filming, and Cheryl's trailer is right across from hers so she can bother her anytime. 

"Hey Cher, did you see my my fridge! It has so much stuff in it, and-"

Cheryl pushes her trailer door open, "Toni. We have the same fridge."

"Well that actually seems unfair to you- seeing as you are the star of the movie." Toni smirks and leans against her doorframe. Cheryl smiles for a second and then waves Toni into her trailer. "When is your call time?" she asks and Toni checks her watch that her friends sent her for this exact reason- to not be late to everything (clearly is still a work in progress). "Not for three more hours." Toni plops down on Cheryl's couch. 

"Three hours? Why are you here so early then?" Cheryl turns from her spot in front of the mirror straightening her hair, "So the paps could see us walk in together, probably." Toni kicks her feet up and gets comfortable, "I really don't mind, though. I'll just get used to being on set and watch a Cheryl Blossom masterclass for free until I have to get ready." she winks from behind the magazine she grabbed off Cheryl's table. 

Cheryl just shakes her head fondly and turns back to the mirror, "the jokes never stop with Toni, do they?

"You'll get used to it" Toni mumbles. Cheryl thinks she might already be used to it.

Toni waits for her to finish organizing her things and walks with her to get her makeup done, making casual conversation with just about everyone in the makeup trailer, too. She sits in the chair next to Cheryl's and passes the brushes off to Callie, Cheryl's makeup artist today, as she asks for them. Cheryl is impressed with her patience, until she realizes that Toni is only calm because she's been given something to do. Fake dating this woman-child might be a little more like babysitting. 

"I'll see you in two hours!" Toni calls out as she hops down the steps of the trailer and follows Cheryl to set. "So you don't want to run through your lines one more time?" Toni asks playfully and bumps Cheryl's hip, causing Cheryl to look at her and smile. Toni's wearing ray-bans and a white t-shirt with a blue button up mis-buttoned on top of it, and she looks absolutely stunning. At least that's what Cheryl is thinking. She looks like she has a stylist and is going to some fancy chic brunch event that Toni would never be at anyway. 

"Nope, I got all the lines down." Cheryl bumps her back and Toni hums, "Well I might need you to run through our scenes together, so we can do it without any cuts, and have the chemistry down right and all of that."

Cheryl is impressed by Toni's sudden switch up, she figures that's why she made it so far so fast. Toni is fun when she's not at work, but when she is she knows what to do and gets it done. But just as fast, she's back to herself, "Hey, do you know they have to dye my hair dark brown later, 'cause that's what the script says. My agent didn't even tell me! But I do get to keep my tattoo. They wrote it into the script because they thought it would fit well." she rambles and Cheryl listens. 

"I liked the pink, though, do you think you'll dye it back when it's over?" Cheryl reaches out and runs her fingers through Toni's pink streaks, "And what's your tattoo? Can I see it?"

"I might dye it back. We'll see if I like it or not, I haven't had hair without highlights since my sophomore more year of college." Toni shrugs and turns to Cheryl with a smirk. "As for the tattoo, I'd have to take my shirt off to show you." she winks and Cheryl looks away, "I guess you'll just have to wait until scene...eighteen, I think." Toni gets awfully close to her ear and talks more quietly.

Cheryl looks back at her with a cute smile, and Toni looks away and laughs, "I'll give you a hint, though. It's an animal." Cheryl tries to guess until they get to set and she gets in character. Toni stands behind her chair and shakes hands all around her, learning everyone's name. 

When they call Cheryl over, Toni whispers in her from behind her. "I'm excited to watch you." she says and Cheryl feels her heart flutter. She pulls Toni around the chair and lets her sit in the one that says 'Cheryl Blossom' on the back.

Toni watches her for almost every second of the scene, holding out her water and getting out of her chair to give her breaks. She's eager to give her tips on what she might do next time to change up her character's perception, etc. Cheryl finds that she's happy Toni joined her on set- she's actually giving her better tips than the director. 

At one point, Toni even tells her explicitly that she shouldn't listen to what he said, and change the line to something else. When the director cuts, he stands up and rushes over to Cheryl. She's scared that he'll already be upset with what she changed, but he looks ecstatic, "That was perfect, Cheryl. The line change to just a few words made it perfect." he pats her back and she looks to Toni with wide eyes. Toni is already looking at her with two thumbs up and a little smile.

After watching Cheryl for literally two hours, Toni waves as she goes to get herself in character. 

Sitting in the chair as they dye her hair, Toni reviews the script and the notes she made in the margins about what her character-Jasmine, might think here and there. She mumbles the lines to herself, committing them to memory. Her practicing is cut short by Callie lifting her chin up and gently putting her light makeup on. 

"Good luck, Toni." Callie calls after her and Toni waves to the older woman, "I'll see you all tomorrow!"

Toni does exactly what she's told, and is done with wardrobe in nearly ten minutes. She's in a leather jacket with a graphic tee under it, dark jeans, and combat boots. Jasmine is all 'rage against the machine' and Cheryl's character, Sophia is one of the 'good kids'. They first meet at a bar, and Jasmine hits on Sophia, but Sophia's friends are around so she says no. Toni walks onto set and they push her to where she needs to go. 

"Hey" she says to Cheryl, who is just staring at her. 

"You look good." Cheryl is still just looking at her, and tries to recover, "I mean, you know-that's exactly how I pictured Jasmine when I read the script." 

"Yeah, same. I kind of like her, she's badass. I'm gonna get a motorcycle and wear sick leather jackets when this is all over." Toni says and snaps the collar of her jacket. 

Cheryl reaches out and smooths it back down, and Toni is suddenly glad she's wearing a jacket because when Cheryl's hand slips onto her neck, goosebumps shoot up across her skin. 

"I think that the last thing you need is a motorcycle." Cheryl pats Toni's cheek and turns to take direction from the director.

It's Toni's turn to blush while Cheryl isn't looking, and she tries to wipe it off before Cheryl turns around and sees. Toni is hoping she doesn't look flushed, but then they call action and she forgets all about that. She has to impress these people and be professional.

Toni doesn't miss a beat, she has them all down, even some of Cheryl's. Cheryl wouldn’t say she's impressed; Toni already impressed her, but she is proud of Toni for not getting too caught up in her nerves. She pulls Toni into a hug when they finish, and she can feel her heart beating fast against her. 

"I was so nervous" Toni shakes her arms like the nerves are going to literally shake off, "could you tell?"

"No, honestly I couldn't, Toni. You did so great. You were better than me, to be honest." Cheryl wraps her arm around Toni's shoulder and they walk back to their trailers. Toni shakes her head, "Don't say that, Cheryl. You are like, the best around. I'm just here to make you look good." she says and Cheryl can't believe how humble this girl is, she would've expected her to be cocky, and rightfully so, based on the rest of her attitude. 

Cheryl just squeezes Toni's shoulder and reflects on her own performance, she's proud of it, and thinks that she and Toni have serious on screen chemistry. More than she ever had with a guy supposed to be playing her husband. Whoever thought of casting Toni really knew what they were doing. 

-

After two busy days of filming, they both finally have a free day. Their publicists both clearly optimized on the schedule, and they are supposed to have their first public outing together that afternoon.

Toni texts her first, and she's confused at the unknown number, until she reads the text and can tell its Toni.

unknown: red. What are you wearing. I need to match the vibe, obviously.

She rolls her eyes at the ridiculous way Toni texts, but answers. 

Cheryl: Jeans and a shirt. 

Cheryl: dumbass.

Toni: Y do you use so much punctuation? lol

Toni: see u soon anyway :D

Cheryl smiles at the text and gets her keys; she's been told to pick Toni up because the shorter girl is apparently one of the worst drivers America has ever seen. 

Toni is looking out the window every other minute so she doesn't make Cheryl wait on her again. This time, Cheryl beeps and it actually works,Toni runs out to her black Range Rover, "Hey" Toni says, "Of course you drive a Range Rover."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Cheryl pouts and Toni laughs, "It's just so basic LA. Do you have any other cars?" 

Cheryl smacks her arm but nods, "yeah, I have a Porsche SUV and a jeep."

Toni shakes her head, "Way too basic. You can drive one of my cars next time. I have a bunch you would probably like." she sits up and Cheryl turns to her, "I can't believe you're criticizing my cars right now. So classist." she jokes and Toni's jaw drops. 

"Me?? I'm like- I'm like...you have more money than me!" Toni deflects and Cheryl laughs. 

"Toni I'm kidding, you are way too easy to set off." she pats her shoulder, "so where are we going?"

Toni grumbles, "This place on Sunset." she says, and starts to give Cheryl directions. 

After getting there almost twenty minutes later than the GPS said they would because Toni 'disagreed' with it, they pull up to the ice cream shop. 

"I hadn't realized how upscale this place is." Cheryl observes and Toni nods, "I'll look out of place." she looks down at herself and back to the people sitting down. 

Cheryl shakes her head, "Please Toni, they're all wearing the same outfit. You look better than all of them." she says and Toni blushes, "Thanks." she says shyly and then sits up, "Anyway, how do you want to play this?" 

"Umm. We should just look at each other a lot, obviously, and be a little touchy and all that. Just flirty, but if anyone asks say we're friends." Cheryl explains and Toni nods, "Okay" she sighs. 

They get out of the car and get in line behind some jackass treating the workers like trash. Toni leans up and whispers to Cheryl, "This guy's a dick." she says and Cheryl nods right away. Cheryl puts her hand on Toni's back as if she needs to be grounded- she probably does, but it kind of startles Toni. It feels comfortable after a minute and she leans into Cheryl's side. Cheryl's hand starts to rub her back as they wait, and Toni leans up to kiss her cheek even if there isn't a pap in sight. It's for...practice.

When the guy in front of them finally finishes asking for the manager, Cheryl orders a strawberry cone, and Toni orders a chocolate sundae. Toni quickly takes her wallet out and pays with a fifty, "I'm sorry that guy gave you a hard time." she says and hands the girl, who couldn't be any older than seventeen, the money, "keep the change. I know how bad that sucks." Toni smiles and the girl thanks her like twenty times. 

They sit at a table nearby and Cheryl smiles at Toni, "That was really nice of you." she looks at her sincerely and Toni squirms under her gaze. 

"Oh, it was nothing...I know what it's like getting treated bad. I was a waitress for almost six years to get through college." Toni says and Cheryl nods, "People like that suck." She agrees.

"Yeah, I-"

Then, because Toni can't go anywhere without bad publicity following, the jackass comes over and interrupts Cheryl to confront her. He stands right next to Cheryl and looks at Toni, "What is this I hear about you dykes talking about me over here?" he's immediately yelling and it causes a scene, so Toni takes a deep breath and tries pushing away the need to kick his ass right away. 

"It's not that serious, man. The girl looked like she was having a rough night and I gave her a tip to help her out, nothing to do with you." Toni tries to calm him down, but the guy is not budging. He even steps closer to Cheryl and puts his hand on her shoulder, pushing down. Toni looks to Cheryl and sees her discomfort at this random, sexist, and even homophobic man laying hands on her. Cheryl squirms as if it's hurting her and Toni bristles. 

"You need to keep your mouth shut, you're talkin' 'bout things you don't know about. The stupid girl at the counter messed up and I had to let her know she did." He growls and Toni stands up, pushing his hand off of Cheryl, who reaches out and holds on to Toni's arm. 

"You need to get your hands off of her, and get the fuck out of my face. Walk away, dude. Everyone here is just trying to have a good night." Toni steps up to him and he shifts on his feet. He looks around and shoves Toni back before he storms away. 

Toni looks around uncomfortably, hating the attention on her right now. She looks back to Cheryl and leans down to her, "You okay?" she rubs Cheryl's shoulder gently and the girl nods. "I'm fine, he was just a jackass." she said and Toni nods. 

"No kidding." Toni leaves her arm on Cheryl's shoulder and pulls her chair around the table to sit right next to her. 

"I'm sorry I already messed it up." Toni sighs and puts her face in her hands. Cheryl shakes her head and pulls her hands away from face to look at her. Toni meets Cheryl's eyes, and Cheryl squeezes her hands, "That was not your fault Toni, I don't care what anyone else thinks. He was the jackass." 

Toni nods and squeezes Cheryl's hands, "Okay" she mumbles, and Cheryl kisses her cheek. And that's when the paparazzi decide to show up, snapping away, not minding the flash or any of the other customers. 

Cheryl rolls her eyes, "Great." she says, "I think that's our cue to leave. Do you want to bring your ice cream with you?" She whispers in her ear, due to the noise around them. 

Toni shakes her head and Cheryl pulls her up from her seat and throws their cups away. The paps obviously follow them to the car, and Cheryl guides Toni to the passenger side by an arm tightly wrapped around her waist. Cheryl then runs around the car, gets in, and drives away quickly. 

Once they are away from the cameras, Toni sighs, "That really sucked."

"I know" Cheryl looks over to Toni and grabs the hand closest to her. She looks so sad, like she's in trouble for defending herself and Cheryl.

"Toni, I'm not mad at you." she says and Toni looks up at her with her eyebrows pinched together, "You aren't?" she asks and Cheryl shakes her head. 

"Of course not, Toni. Why would I be mad that you defended yourself and protected me from that grimy guy who put his hands on me?"

"I don't know, it just looked bad and now I bet they're gonna make me look guilty." Toni holds onto Cheryl's hand and explains. 

Cheryl pulls over in front of a movie theater so she can look over at Toni, "You are nothing like the media says, are you?" she reaches out and touches Toni's face.

The girl in her passenger seat shakes her head, "No, not recently anyway." is her only answer and Cheryl shuts the car off. 

"Let's go catch a movie." she rounds the car and opens the door for Toni, who is kind of smiling. "You're only doing this to make me feel better." she accuses and Cheryl shrugs and leans closer, "Maybe, or this is our first fake date." she whispers into Toni's ear and Toni shakes her head.

-

She doesn't see or hear from Toni again until she's walking up to her trailer the next afternoon. Cheryl hears some bickering in Toni's trailer, and decides to interrupt for Toni's sake- she knocks on the door and opens it without waiting for an answer. 

Toni is standing up and she looks frustrated. She's mid-pace and her hands are raised above her head exasperatedly while her manager is sitting on her couch looking like she might lose her mind any second. 

"Hey" Cheryl hurries over to Toni and pulls her into a hug, and feels her heart flutter when Toni hugs her back right away, like she needed a hug right that second and is grateful Cheryl could tell. 

"Hi Janet." Cheryl says as pleasantly as she can and Janet reaches out to shake her hand. 

"Hello Cheryl, I was just speaking to Toni about last night's issue." the uptight woman says and Cheryl nods, "No publicity is bad publicity, right Janet!" she says and Janet reluctantly nods. 

"Do you mind if I steal Toni from you, Janet? I wanted to run through a scene with her before I have to get to set." Cheryl says and Janet sighs, "Sure, we can talk more later." the woman leaves and Toni sits next to her with her script. 

"What did you want to go over?" Toni asks and Cheryl laughs, "I was kidding! I just wanted her to leave you alone." 

"Oh. That was actually pretty good." Toni nods and throws her script on the table. 

Cheryl frowns, Toni isn't her usual chipper self, "You look tired." she observes and Toni nods. 

"Janet has been on my ass since 8am, when she woke me up with a lengthy phone call and sent me the links to all of the articles so far. There was at least one good one, though. Someone got a cute one of us in. line." Toni explains and sighs. 

"Since 8am? You only got home at 12..." Cheryl trails off and looks at Toni, who has bags under her eyes with a cute little pout on her face. "Okay. We're gonna take a quick power nap and then get you some coffee so you can actually act today." Cheryl turns off the lights and pulls Toni to lie down on the couch with her. She sets an alarm for thirty minutes later, and wraps an arm around Toni. 

Almost five minutes later, Toni is asleep all tucked into her side, and Cheryl isn't too far off herself. Their male co-star, Reggie, sneaks into Toni's trailer for a prank, until he sees the two of them asleep. He sneaks a quick picture and posts it, tagging both of them. 

The alarm wakes them up with a start, and Toni is the first to reach over Cheryl and turn it off. When she moves back over, Cheryl is leaning up on her elbows and her face is centimeters from hers. Cheryl doesn't even seem phased, but Toni feels like she's having a heart attack. "You feel better?" Cheryl asks and reaches up to smooth out the hair on Toni's head, and Toni nods. 

"Yeah. Thanks, Cher. I needed that." Toni gets off the couch and Cheryl reaches for her phone, "Hey, look at this headline Reggie sent me. 'Toni Topaz and Cheryl Blossom getting some rest after a late-night movie date?', Reggie posted a picture of us sleeping, I guess." Cheryl reads and Toni jumps back over to the couch, "Ew, I look so gross in my sleep." she looks over Cheryl's shoulder and points to the pictures, "Hey, they got us at the movies. We look like a couple there, actually." Toni jokes.

"Hey, send that to Janet will ya." she turns to Cheryl with a smirk at the same time Cheryl looks at Toni. Her laugh dies out awkwardly when her eyes drop to Toni's lips. The two of them are stuck like that for a moment, until Toni pulls back. 

"I, I gotta get to wardrobe, I'm already ten minutes late." she taps to her watch and pulls her jean jacket on too fast, nearly falling down the stairs as she leaves Cheryl in her trailer. Cheryl sighs deeply and falls back onto the couch- what the hell was that?

\- 

Toni is on set early the next day, earlier than usual.

"Morning, Cher." she stops at the door and looks around the corner at her. Cheryl is sitting down and reading in a chair in the corner, and she sits up when she hears Toni.

"Good morning Toni, what are you doing here so early?" she asks and waves Toni inside. 

Toni steps in and looks at Cheryl and around, "I just wanted to get here early and watch today. I was gonna go get some coffee, though. Did you want one?" she paces around Cheryl's trailer and asks.

"Yeah, actually. Thanks I didn't have time on my way here. I'll text you my order." Toni nods and leaves her alone again. When Toni get's back, Cheryl is in a red sweater and short, short black skirt. Toni almost drops both of their coffees when she sees her. 

She clears her throat, "here's yours." Toni stands next to her and stares at her in the mirror. Cheryl smirks slyly, and Toni doesn't even see it-her eyes are locked on Cheryl's legs. 

Eventually, she speaks up and it's basically a train wreck of a compliment, "Wardrobe did- uh, your clothes today look...you look really beautiful today, Cher. Wardrobe knows what they're doing." Toni stumbles out and immediately turns around to hide the blush taking over her face.

Cheryl holds back a laugh, "thank you" she says graciously, opting to not poke fun at Toni about it. 

Toni lies down on her couch and scrolls through her phone while Cheryl organizes her things for the day. 

"So...we have a kissing scene today." Toni says after a while and Cheryl nods, "you nervous?"

Toni scratches the back of her head, "Not...nervous, just- just how do you usually do them? I haven't really had that many, at least not with girls." she says and sits up on the couch on her legs, and she looks so small.

Cheryl crosses the room and Toni gulps when she sits right next to her. "We can go through the script and get you comfortable with it if you want." Cheryl picks hers up off of the table and holds it in front of Toni so they can share it. "It's like, all pent up attraction that they have and it makes them so angry at each other that they finally kiss, you know?" Cheryl says and Toni nods along, "So that's what we have to express. You just have to bring energy to the scene and however we end up kissing will match that." she finishes and Toni breathes in deep, "okay" is all she says. 

It shouldn't be that hard, Toni thinks, because she's experiencing a sizable amount of pent up attraction right now.

They read through the lines sitting down and when they get to the part of the script that says, 'Jasmine pushes Sophia against the door, and they look at each other deeply, speaking with only their eyes. Jasmine inches closer, and that is when Sophia pushes forward and their lips meet.' 

"And then we kiss." Toni says awkwardly, "Like, a lot." she's standing by the couch and flops back onto it. Cheryl looks at her with a pout. "What's wrong with you? You don't want to kiss me?" she teases and Toni sits up quickly to defend herself, "No, no it isn't that Cheryl, I just-"

"I'm messing with you." Cheryl smirks from across the room and Toni slouches. 

"Screw you" she rolls her eyes.

Cheryl joins her on the couch again, "Do you want to practice, then? It's okay if you were too shy to ask." she pushes Toni's shoulder and watches her pout.

"You don't mind? It's awkward" Toni asks, cracking her fingers nervously.

Cheryl shakes her head with a little smile, "No, Toni of course not. You are my fake girlfriend, anyway. We'll probably be kissing off set soon." she says looking down at Toni. 

"Yeah." Toni says and looks back up to Cheryl's eyes. She's closer now, and when a piece of her hair falls in her face Toni reaches up to tuck it back behind her ear. They're awfully close now, and Cheryl whispers "which way do you lean?" with a quirk in the corner of her lips that Toni catches. 

Toni decides not to freak out about it. They won't ruin any of their friendship, because it's literally their job. And Cheryl is hot. Toni would be an idiot to not kiss her given the opportunity. Plus, she wants to kiss her. If she wasn't supposed to be working with Cheryl, she would've hit on her a hundred times over already. Her eyes look down to Cheryl's lips and slowly back up to look in her eyes where Cheryl is already staring back at her, and Toni has to catch her breath just at the way Cheryl is looking at her, and they aren't even kissing yet. 

Then, Toni slowly inches closer until her lips are almost touching Cheryl's, like it's written in the scene- at least that's what she'll say to anyone who asks. Not that she's too scared to kiss her first.

Cheryl leans forward and as Toni's eyes flutter shut, and presses her lips onto hers gently. Her hand reaches out to Toni's neck, and she leans even more into Toni's space to feel more of her. Toni can't believe how casual this feels all of a sudden; she's kissing Cheryl and it feels normal, like she's been doing it for months already. She kisses Cheryl back right away, and those damn goosebumps are back when she feels Cheryl's fingers at the back of her neck. 

It's a brief kiss, just a practice run through. 

Cheryl pulls pack and her eyes open after a second- she's still close to Toni, and their eyes meet. They exchange a look, like they are trying to see if the other felt what they just felt. Toni looks shocked, like she still can't believe they even believe that they kissed; her eyes are boring right into Cheryl's, trying to tell Cheryl something, and she thinks she knows what it is. 

She leans in again, her nose brushing against Toni's, and before she can make her move to kiss her again, Toni pulls her in by the back of her neck, kissing her much more urgently than before. Cheryl's hands quickly work to play catch up, and grasp at the bottom of Toni's Rolling Stone t-shirt. 

A minute later, Toni is on her back and Cheryl pulls her lips away. Toni sighs, missing her lips already, and Cheryl sits up and touches her lips.

"That was..."

"Hot. That was hot." Toni runs a hand through hair shakily. "I guess that scene won't be a problem." she jokes and Cheryl forces out a laugh. 

"Yeah. Definitely not." she says back, not looking at Toni.

After a few minutes of silence, Toni's watch starts beeping. "Makeup time." she explains, "I'll see you for more of that later." she winks and rushes out of Cheryl's trailer. 

Cheryl reflects on what the hell just happened after Toni leaves. Her fake girlfriend is right, that was hot. Like Cheryl could definitely be described as hot and bothered right now. She wonders if Toni is feeling the same. Her hand touches her lips again, Toni is a good kisser, there's no doubt about that-she can still feel her lips on hers faintly. 

Toni is antsy in the makeup trailer, which is unusual for her on set. She usually tries her best to be professional and control her constant need to be up and moving around. Callie is puzzled at Toni's behavior, but she curls her hair and minds her business regardless. 

"Big scene today?" she eventually asks and Toni nods at her in the mirror, "Yeah kind of, I just don't want to mess it up. It's important." 

Callie nods and pats her shoulder reassuringly, "You will do great Toni, I know it." she says and lets Toni go back to her quiet reflecting. 

Toni bumps into Cheryl right as she leaves the trailer and Cheryl waits for her, sticking her hand out and wriggling her fingers for Toni to grab. Of course, Toni takes her hand and Cheryl squeezes it. Is that really all she needs? For Cheryl to hold her hand, making all of her nerves go away? She's totally screwed.

"You ready?" she looks over at Toni and she nods, "Yeah, I think so."

They walk over to set hand in hand, and when they get there Cheryl leans down and kisses Toni on her cheek, way too close to her mouth. She pulls away and just goes back to walking, tugging Toni behind her. "What was that for?" Toni mumbles and Cheryl nods her head to the corner of the fence. 

"Oh" Toni sees a group of photographers who have their cameras out and definitely caught that. She's not sure why she thought it was for any other reason.

They start getting told what to do as soon as they step onto set, and Cheryl wraps her arm around Toni's shoulder to lean on her. The crew gets them ready for this scene- they do have to look pretty much naked on screen, and so they help them with those parts.

"Boring." she whispers and Toni hums. When they are about to start filming, Toni wiggles her eyebrows suggestively at Cheryl, making Cheryl smirk and blow her a kiss. She pretends to smack Cheryl's kiss out of the air and she pouts frowns, making Toni blow her a kiss back. 

"Action!" snaps Toni and Cheryl out of their friendly joking (flirting?).

Toni says the few lines she has, and all of a sudden their foreheads are touching, and Cheryl is looking at her with so much want, and Toni really has to convince herself that it's just that Cheryl is a really good actress. Toni is pressing Cheryl into the door, and just like before, Cheryl is the one who kisses her first. But it isn't gentle and sweet, and Toni is mentally reminded that this is a sex scene for the millionth time. 

So she gets into character; it isn't hard, and she kisses Cheryl back just as hard, and Cheryl's hands tangle up in Toni's hair. She pushes forward, and then it's Toni who has her back against the wall. Cheryl pulls back, breathing heavy, and whispers her line just loud enough for the mic to pick up. 

"I hate you" she says, and Toni, or rather, her character, smirks. "I know." she says and pushes Cheryl backward until they're right next to the uncomfortable prop bed. Cheryl's hands slip under Toni's shirt, and Toni gasps into her mouth at the cool contact. Cheryl only smirks and pushes her back on the bed, like in the script. Thank god the scene cuts there, or they might’ve gotten to carried away...

That's the thing, though. They have to film it three more times for the camera angles, and by the time they do, Cheryl and Toni's lips are both red, considering they've been kissing for almost an hour. When they finally finish the scene, Toni chugs a water bottle and Cheryl waits for her. 

"I have to drive you back tonight, remember?" Cheryl says and Toni follows her back to their trailers. Toni goes to hers and changes back into a flannel and white tank top with jeans. She hurries over to Cheryl’s and waits by the door for her. 

Cheryl gathers her things quietly and approaches Toni by the door. Only Toni doesn't move, kind of entranced by Cheryl for a second- she has all of her makeup wiped off and her eyes are as bright as ever. Cheryl looks confused, and Toni moves to leave when she realizes she was staring. Only Cheryl tugs her back inside by the collar of her flannel, and before Toni can say a word, Cheryl's lips are covering her mouth. 

Toni can't complain, and kisses her back as her head hits the door lightly from the force of Cheryl's kiss. The very open door, that anyone could see. So Toni drops her bag and her hands shoot out to Cheryl's hips, pulling them against hers and pushing Cheryl gently forward and away from the door. Cheryl's fist is still wrapped around her shirt, and her other hand is moving slowly up Toni's side. 

Cheryl falls back on the couch and pulls Toni down with her, her hands quickly skirt under Toni's shirt to feel her skin, and push Toni's flannel off until it's on the floor. Soon, most of their clothes are on joining it on the floor. 

Nearly thirty minutes later, Cheryl collapses on top of Toni, her chest heaving. They both catch their breath and Cheryl reaches over to grab a water, "Well...that was good publicity practice." she says and takes a sip of water. 

Toni looks up at her with a quirked eyebrow, "Yeah, practice." she mumbles, brushing Cheryl's hair out of her face with both hands. 

Cheryl gets up and pulls on her shirt, "Just practice or whatever, Toni. I don't want you to think anything else so-" 

Toni shoots up, too and tugs her pants back on. "I'll uber home." she interrupts and tries to leave, but Cheryl pushes her back in. 

"No, I have to drive you back-"

"Fuck off Cheryl, and get out of my way." Cheryl can suddenly see why Toni is considered a hothead. 

"Why are you freaking out right now, what did I do?" Cheryl scoffs indignantly, and backs away with her hands raised. 

"Are you kidding? We just had sex and you gave me the scumbag 'don't catch feelings' talk. Maybe TMZ should call you the womanizer instead." Toni says and grabs her bag while Cheryl is momentarily shocked.

She's waiting for her uber when Cheryl grabs her tightly by her arm, and tugs her over to a red jeep. Toni tries to pull her arm away but Cheryl holds on, and people with camera's behind the gates start taking pictures and Cheryl opens the door for her, "Get in the car." she basically throws her in. 

Cheryl locks the doors and starts the car. 

"You're a jackass" she says and Toni's jaw flexes, "You're a dick." she says back.

"I'm a dick? You just-" Cheryl starts and Toni turns up the music so she doesn't have to listen. 

"Just drive fast."

The rest of the car ride is quiet, besides Cheryl's occasional humming to the Taylor Swift she put on. Toni rolls down her window, her mind reeling. She doesn't know the ins and outs of PR setups, but she's pretty sure the fake couple shouldn't have sex on the set of their movie. 

Cheryl seems unfazed, but maybe she's just pretending not to be bothered by it. How could she not be bothered by it, though??? Toni is pretty sure Cheryl enjoyed herself, actually she definitely knows that she enjoyed herself. Now that she's worked herself up about Cheryl not caring, she looks over to Cheryl who is just singing along like it's nothing.

"See you next week." Cheryl says and Toni shakes her head, getting out of the car wordlessly. She's outside of the car and about to close the door when she finally says something. 

"Cheryl, what the fuck was that, do you not care about me?" she's asking when Cheryl interrupts her, "It's just for the publicity Toni, it was nothing. We were all worked up from our scene. I'll see you next week, and remember the car is picking you up." she says and Toni just slams the door. She certainly didn't see any interviews happening in the trailer, and that was definitely not the right answer. 

Toni gets herself worked up about how Cheryl would just have sex with her and just disregard it as their fake dating agenda bullshit so easily, and it really starts to piss her off. You don't treat people like that, especially not friends. So, she does an unfortunate thing, and calls her hook-up buddy Veronica Lodge, who is also an actress she met on one of the movies she worked on. 

Veronica is a good friend, and Toni didn't exactly intend to hook up with her, but it happened anyway. She told her about her situation, but doesn't tell her who it is she's so torn up about, and they drink a bottle of wine or two, and the next thing Toni knows, she's in her bed, naked, with Veronica next to her. She groans at the headache coming on and it wakes Veronica up. The raven-haired girl rolls over with a smirk on her face, "Morning, Tiny." she says and Toni grumbles. 

"I actually have an audition in a few hours, so I'm gonna go home and get ready for it. I'll see you later." Veronica says and taps Toni's cheek fondly, "Let me know about your mystery girl, okay?" she says and Toni nods. 

"Good luck with that audition." Toni says and waves her off. 

Another thing Toni didn't intend to happen? Veronica getting caught up by paparazzi outside. She lives in a famous neighborhood, but even she has never been papped outside her house.

Veronica does her the courtesy of calling her and telling her, and Toni starts to freak a little. Her team is going to be so pissed at her, and the media is going to run with it. On the bright side, it will definitely get the movie some publicity...

Toni doesn't know what to do, so she just leaves it. She pretends she doesn't know it happened, and gets back in bed. But not even an hour later, Toni is getting a call from Janet and she has to take a deep breath before she picks it up. "Hey Janet." Toni rolls over and walks to the kitchen to grab a beer- she thinks she'll probably need it. 

"Toni, I'll give you one minute to explain why Veronica left your house this morning after coming in late last night." Janet skips the greetings and gets straight to the point. Toni takes a swig of her beer, and answers "Veronica came over to hang out last night, is that against the rules or something? How did you even know she was here?" Toni pretends she doesn't know what happened, and she hopes it works. 

"Toni we gotta get a hold of this story, so you are going to a premiere with Cheryl tonight." Janet says strictly and Toni doesn't really know how to answer. 

"Um, what? Uh-uh, no I don't want to-" she blubbers and Janet interrupts her.

"A car will pick you up at 8 for the red carpet. Wear black, Cheryl is wearing red." Janet says and hangs up. 

Cheryl...oh god, she does not want to deal with Cheryl right now. 

It's one o'clock, and she feels like she has to get out before she overthinks everything. She goes out to a cafe by her house to grab breakfast and a coffee, and runs into another old friend. This one is bad, bad if anyone finds out.

"Hey! Toni, what's going on?" Johnny asks her and Toni fakes a smile. 

"Hey, John. I'm good these days, what about you?" she says and steps up in line. 

"Good, yeah you know me." he smiles cheezily, "staying busy."

"Yeah" Toni gulps, she's nervous, "sure do." her hands are warm and she wipes them on her pants. "What are you doing around here, man?"

"Oh, I've been getting bigger clients, if you know what I mean." Johnny says and Toni just nods and shuffles forward. 

She orders her usual, and John orders behind her. Toni's hands start to shake and she quickly grabs her coffee to hide it. If anyone, anyone sees her with this guy, she's screwed. Especially her publicist. She kicked those habits a long, long time ago, and it wasn't easy. 

"Here, Toni I have something for 'ya hold on." he follows her out and tries to hand her a little bag. 

"No, I'm good Johnny. Nice to see you though bud." Toni walks to her car quickly and drives off as fast as she can. She breathes out as soon as she feels like he's gone, and thanks god that she said no. 

When she gets home, she relaxes and eats her brunch, but she can't help but think about Johnny. She never thought she would see him around again, she didn't ever want to see him again, especially not in her neighborhood in California. So, Toni decides that a beer is a good idea to forget him, and a few more after that one, and another...

Cheryl is in the car and gets to Toni's at eight o'clock, right on time. Toni isn't, per usual.

Cheryl calls and texts Toni, but she doesn't answer. Is she really being this much of a pain in her ass already? After fifteen minutes of waiting, Cheryl gives it up and gets out of the car. When she gets to Toni's front door, she knocks, but doesn't get an answer. She rolls her eyes and tries to open the door, and of course it's unlocked. Toni is such a dumbass.

"Toni?" she calls out and pushes the door open, "Toni?" she doesn't get a response and walks inside to the kitchen. She picks up the cans on the counter; they're all empty, and they better be from last night. 

Cheryl sighs and starts up the stairs, and once she gets to the top she hears music playing and follows it. When she gets the door, she sees Toni trying to zip up her own little black dress and giggling. So the beers weren't from last night. 

"Toni" she calls out to get her attention, and Toni walks in a whole circle until she faces Cheryl. "Oh, Cheryl" she smiles as if she didn't fuck everything up today, and Cheryl thinks that must be why she's drinking. 

The redhead sighs, "Do you need me to zip that up for you?" 

"No." Toni reaches back over her shoulder and tries to zip it again. Cheryl gives her a few seconds until she just walks over and grabs the zipper for her, but Toni pushes her away. "Stop trying to help me. I don't want your help!" she yells and Cheryl feels herself getting irritated. "You may not want it, but you need it. So turn around so I can zip it up already." Cheryl takes a step and turns Toni around, who is suddenly quiet. "Now let's go please." Cheryl offers her arm to Toni, who doesn't take it. 

"I need my bag" Toni walks around her room until she finds it on the floor behind her bed. Cheryl can tell this is gonna be a long night. 

When they finally make it to the kitchen, Toni opens the fridge, "Mind if I take a roadie?" she asks and Cheryl slams the fridge closed. "No! Now get in the car, we're already late for the carpet, and you're apparently a drunk." Cheryl sighs and tugs Toni out of her own house. 

Toni tries to say she isn't, but the point falls flat when she trips over her own foot on the way to the car. 

Cheryl sits with her arms crossed, staring at Toni. "Why are you looking at me like that?" Toni asks after a second and Cheryl scoffs. 

"How can you even ask that, you know why."

Toni flails her arms out, "What, Cheryl. That we fucked and you just pretended we didn't, and it pissed me off? Did you actually want to talk about that?"

Cheryl loses her breath, she didn't expect Toni to go that far. 

"Actually, no. That you fucked me and her in the same night. Probably within a few hours." Cheryl snaps with sass.

"I didn't sleep with her Cheryl." Toni rolls her eyes.

"Yes you did, Toni. You reek of guilt." Cheryl says, knowing it for a fact. "I saw the pictures anyway, no one leaves the house dressed like that unless they just put their clothes back on."

"Well I didn't know they were going to be outside." Toni scoots next to Cheryl and Cheryl pushes her away with a look.

"Just stop it, Toni. This is only for the movie, I don't even care if you fucked her or not." Cheryl bites out. 

"Oh, is that what you tell the girls after you love 'em and leave 'em? It's just for the movie?" Toni smirks with a proud little smirk. 

Cheryl wants to slap it right off, "Fuck off, Toni. You're the immature little shit who's drunk on their way to a red carpet event right now."

"Yeah, so what? You're the one who fucked it all up and didn't even care. Maybe that's why you never had a public girlfriend before." Toni says, barely even registering what she said.

"You are such a bitch, Toni." Cheryl pretends that didn't hurt, and ignores Toni when she says, "Yeah, well so are you."

When they get closer to the event, Cheryl has to prep Toni for the red carpet. She sighs and reaches over to tuck Toni's messy hair that she obviously didn't do behind her ear. "Don't touch me" Toni pulls away and Cheryl just tells her to shut up and grabs her face again to check her makeup. "God I'm already sick of you tonight."

Cheryl leans back and starts to explain, "Okay, so when we get on the carpet you have to do two things. One, do not act drunk, and two, act like we weren't just yelling at each other in this car." Cheryl sighs before she gets to the next part, "And our teams agree that we should kiss publicly, but not confirm anything and play coy."

"I'm not even drunk anymore, Cheryl. And fine, we had plenty of practice the other day, like you said." Toni rolls her eyes. 

"Can you stop being such a brat!" Cheryl frowns and looks out the window instead of at Toni.

"What movie is this for anyway" Toni asks, taking Cheryl's advice and stopping her bitching the best she can, they have to put up with each other for this whole movie anyway.

"It's called Lady Bird, you heard of it?" Cheryl asks and Toni nods, "I'm friends with some of the minor characters." They stop talking then, until the driver knocks on the door and let's them know that they're here.

Toni gets out first, and sticks her hand out for Cheryl to hold onto as she gets out. Her dress a little longer than Toni's, so the brunette reaches out to Cheryl's hip so she won't fall out of the car and onto her face. Well now that she thinks about it, she might've actually liked to see that happen.

"Thanks" Cheryl says under her breath, and to her surprise, Toni reaches down to fix her dress for her. "You all good?" she asks, and wraps her arm around Cheryl's waist to guide her to the carpet. Cheryl nods, and they start their walk down the carpet together. 

The paparazzi call out to them, and the cameras flash incessantly. Toni flinches at the cameras, and Cheryl wraps her arm around her and hopes she'll relax. They take way too many pictures for Toni's liking, but Cheryl knows what she's doing, posing perfectly next to her. She doesn't like the things the cameramen call out, they yell about their relationship and Toni's past, but she ignores them because if she pulls a face, the cameras are right there to catch it. 

As they leave, one sassy pap calls out to Toni, "Toni! Are you dating Veronica Lodge, or Cheryl?" he says, and Toni stumbles over her feet at the disrespectful question. 

Cheryl steps up and grabs her hips, "Watch it, you boozebag" she whispers in Toni's ear, and Toni actually laughs loudly. Tomorrow, when the articles come out about them, that picture will be the headliner. They're both laughing, and Toni is blushing with Cheryl's hands resting low on her hips. The pictures following consist of Toni standing back up and sweetly kissing Cheryl's cheek...for the tabloids, of course.

After the cute little moment, they get called over for an interview. 

"Cheryl, Toni, it's great to see you both." their female interviewer says and Cheryl smiles her interview smile while Toni shakes the woman's hand, "You too, Charlotte," she says. Cheryl loves that Toni remembers everyone's names, and even more that she introduces herself even though the person already knows her name.

"So, how is the movie going?" Charlotte asks, and Toni nods and hands the question over to Cheryl. Cheryl reaches around Toni and places her hand on Toni's lower back before she answers, "It's going great so far, we had a steamy scene the other day" she teases and looks to Toni, who also acts secretive, "we're getting pretty busy with filming, and I can say that it's going to be a great movie." Cheryl says and Toni easily agrees.

"Yeah. I agree of course, it's super exciting to be working with Cheryl, and I can't wait for everyone to see the movie." Toni basically just restates what Cheryl said; she doesn't really like interviews that much. 

"There's been some rumors about the two of you, anything to say about those?" 

Cheryl and Toni exchange a look, and Toni tries to bite back her smirk, but it's persistent, "Umm, no. Sorry to disappoint, but we're just friends. Cheryl is way out of my league anyway." Cheryl looks at Toni with her eyebrows raised. 

"I don't think I'm too fair out of your league." Cheryl leans into the mic and Toni looks away with a chuckle, "Whatever, Blossom." She turns back to the interview with pink cheeks.

The interviewer looks at them with a suspicious smirk, "Last question, girls. What is your favorite thing about working with each other?" 

Cheryl speaks up right away, "I'll go first, l know it'll take you a while to think of something." she teases Toni with a pinch at her hip, and Toni can tell she isn't joking like she's pretending to, "My favorite thing about working with Toni is that she may seem intimidating, but she's super sweet and is a huge softie, and takes she takes naps in my trailer all the time."

"She's lying" Toni leans into the mic with a fake glare, "Anyway...my favorite thing about working with Cheryl so far is-um, probably that she's so talented and fun to watch. I sometimes just show up to set early and watch her do her scenes on my free time-she's really amazing at what she does." Toni says and Cheryl looks at her with a lopsided smile. Her hand comes up to the back of Toni's neck, and she brushes some fuzzy hair away from her face. 

"Don't make me blush, TT." Cheryl says, and the interviewer thanks them for their time. For the whole rest of the interview and whatever Toni says to Charlotte as they walk away, Cheryl has no idea what they say, because she was stuck staring at Toni the whole time. Did she mean that or was she just bullshitting the interview?

They walk into the lobby with their arms still around each other, but they both pull away as soon as they're out of sight. 

"Don't think I didn't feel you leaning on me, Toni. Mix in a water already." Cheryl snaps as they walk up to the bar and Toni rolls her eyes, "Yeah, and you are pretty handsy for someone who's supposed to think that I'm too immature to be an appropriate date." Toni shoots back. 

The bartender comes over after their argument, "For you ladies?" he asks and Cheryl orders, "a water for her and a gin and tonic for me." she pauses for a second and looks to Toni with a scowl, "make it strong, please." she adds. 

"You seriously got me a water? Do you think I'm blackout or something?" Toni scoffs, "I think that I need a drink to deal with you, and I also think that you need to be less drunk so I don't have to manage you as much."Cheryl points at Toni, kind of raising her voice until someone walks up between them. 

"Hi, ladies. Great to see you both." Cheryl turns, and of course it's Veronica Lodge with a polite smile on her face. The redhead turns right back around and kills her drink. 

"I can't deal with this right now." Cheryl turns and faces them both, leaning against the bar. 

"Then don't." Toni says and tries to flag down the bartender. Cheryl signals that he shouldn't make her drink, and Veronica laughs at their bickering. 

"Trouble in paradise?" she tries to joke and Cheryl scoffs, "I don't know, you tell me Veronica." Cheryl says and looks back and forth between her fake girlfriend and the fake cheater. 

After a second, Veronica and Cheryl start to chuckle. Toni just mumbles, "what the fuck is going on" and turns back to the bar. 

"I didn't know you two were doing the PR thing! I would've gone out the back door if I knew." she jokes and nudges Toni, who turns around with an eye roll. "Looks like its going well with all the bickering you two are doing." 

"Yeah, well it isn't going great thanks to Toni over here. She's also being a jackass and binge-drank all day before she got here." Cheryl says and Veronica raises her eyebrows, "Nice work, Tiny." she flicks Toni's cheek and the smaller girl pushes her away. 

"Let me buy you another drink, Cheryl." Veronica wedges herself in between them at the bar and Toni watches on as they don't buy her a drink, and chat about what Veronica's doing. 

When Veronica leaves, Cheryl steps into Toni's space again. "I've known Veronica since college drama courses. We used to compete for the lead. And for the record," she leans in to whisper in Toni's ear "I had her first." she switches to the other ear, "twice." Toni pushes her shoulder to get her out of her space. 

Toni shakes her head, "I really didn't ask."she says and Cheryl smirks, "But I thought it would be fun to tell you for that reaction. Now come on, I have friends here you need to meet as my girlfriend." 

"Fake girlfriend" Toni corrects, not really sure why she bothered. 

"Oh right, like I forgot." Cheryl rolls her eyes. 

Seconds after, she strokes Toni's cheek and leans in. Toni looks bewildered, and confused that Cheryl is touching her after they've been shooting insults at each other for the past ten minutes, so Cheryl whispers "Camera behind you" and Toni is frozen, realizing Cheryl is about to kiss her again, so when Cheryl leans in Toni doesn't meet her halfway. Toni only leans slightly up off the bar once Cheryl's lips are on hers, and Cheryl kisses her like no one else is in the room. They kiss for longer than they needed too, and Toni thinks it really isn't necessary for Cheryl to tongue-kiss her in public, but she'd be lying if she said she didn't like it.

Cheryl's hair is framing her face so perfectly, and Toni needs to touch her. She rests her forehead against Cheryl's and sighs, "Can we just stop. You're the only person I actually know here." 

"I guess we'll see." Cheryl says and tugs Toni over to her friends. 

For the rest of the night, they act like a happy couple. Toni meets all of Cheryl's friends, who have, like families and kids. Toni's friends have weed and temp jobs, and Toni has never felt so out of place. Cheryl is discussing the movie with her friend Tina when Toni slips away, and she doesn't notice. Tina does, and takes the opportunity to ask a highly inappropriate question, "Cheryl, tell me about the truth to these rehab rumors about your girlfriend." she says and sips her wine. Cheryl hope's the shock she's feeling isn't obvious, and she reaches out to Tina's arm, "Oh there's no truth there, she had a friend who fell off the wagon and was paying for their rehabilitation." Cheryl says, polite and friendly despite feeling like lashing out. Truthfully, she has no idea about the truth, and she hadn't even heard much of the rumors. Tina decides to keep talking, "I heard something about a drug deal someone say today." she raises her eyebrows like its good gossip and Cheryl shakes her head, "not Toni, I was with her all morning." She forces a smile on her face so Tina will believe it. "Did you see where Toni went?" she asks when they finish, and her friend nods. "I think she went back in the theatre."

So she heads back into the theatre, and sees Toni sitting next to a little boy, pointing to the detailed painting on the ceiling. She's spewing out random art facts, and the boy's eyes are wide as he follows Toni's finger pointing out the mistakes, and telling him all the fun facts she knows. Eventually Toni sits up and pats the kids shoulder. "You know where your mom is, Billy? I bet she's worried about you." she says and he nods. 

"Yeah. She's gettin' me a snack." he says and Toni gets up with him. "Come on, I'll take you to her."

They get up and Toni finally spots Cheryl, "Hey" she says and Billy looks up too, "hi" he says and Cheryl smiles at the little boy in a tux. She follows as they leave and Billy looks for his mom,Toni pointing at random women who look nothing like him, and Billy giggling and tugging at her hand when he says no.

When Toni returns the kid to his mom, she freaks and hugs Toni, who looks terrified. She looks at Cheryl with wide eyes over the woman's shoulder, and Cheryl stifles a chuckle at her discomfort. She pats Billy on the shoulder and walks back over to Cheryl. 

"I need a drink now." Toni says and walks past her toward the bar, but Cheryl stops her. "Bar is closed, the event is over." Toni groans and Cheryl actually looks sympathetic, "You ready to go?" she asks and Toni nods. 

"Is this time for the big kiss?" she raises her eyebrows suggestively and Cheryl sighs, "Unfortunately. Just a peck, though."

"Oh, you know you like it, Blossom. You sure you don't wanna bang on the carpet right here?" Toni says and tries to rile Cheryl up.

"God, you are so vile." 

Toni shrugs, "Yup. And I still have to kiss you with this mouth." 

When they are finally standing near all of the action, Cheryl leans down and kisses Toni softly, briefly, with a hand pushing her chin up to meet her. Toni leans back in when Cheryl leans away, and Cheryl smiles, "What, you can't get enough?"

"Oh yeah, that's totally it, Blossom." Toni pulls away, "Just giving the people what they want." she winks and Cheryl chuckles. 

They're both wondering what this car ride will be like. Are they still mad at each other? Toni doesn't want to talk about why she's pissed, but she'll probably have to. Toni is thinking they definitely shouldn't have hooked up, and Cheryl is thinking about apologizing for how she treated Toni after they hooked up, because she's realizing she kind of wants to do it again. But she's not one to apologize.

"That was nice, what you said in there. Really nice of you, if you meant it." Cheryl says quietly, looking down at the floor of the car. "Well it's true." she leans back and facing Cheryl, "It's not hard to act like I like you, I do. We're just having a, uh, disagreement or whatever." 

"We aren't having a 'disagreement', Toni. You hurt my feelings, you hit my biggest insecurities on the head, and I think you knew that when you said it." Cheryl says with a sad look on her face and Toni feels her heart ache, because she never wants to be reason her Cheryl is looking so upset. Toni wants to yell that Cheryl hurt her feelings too, bu \t she doesn't.

"I didn't mean to, Cheryl, I'm sorry. I was- to be honest, I was upset about what happened the other day." Toni sighs, deciding to just come clean.

"What do you mean the other day? What could I have done?" Cheryl looks to Toni, confused.

"We had sex, and you acted like it was on the PR schedule." Toni just blurts it out, scratching her neck as an excuse to look at the floor instead of Cheryl. She tries to keep her cool and not start another fight.

"Oh" Cheryl says with a frown, "I mean, I'm sorry if I upset you, but it was just the one time, right."

Cheryl is staring at Toni, waiting for an answer, and Toni caves, "Yeah just the one time, right." she says, not even saying what she was all worked up about the other day, "So are we okay now? Back to normal?" Cheryl asks and Toni nods. She moves over and sits right next to Cheryl. 

They sit peacefully for the rest of the ride, but it isn't hostile or awkward, it's steady, and who would Toni be if she started up another discussion about how she's probably falling for the girl sitting next to her?

Toni kisses Cheryl's cheek when she gets out of the car at her house, and Cheryl gathers herself inside the car as soon as Toni is gone. She's happy they can go back to being normal, all she has to do is pretend she isn't falling for her fake girlfriend.

-

"I can't believe we're on Fallon tonight? What the fuck!" Toni walks in to Cheryl's trailer, freaking out.

"Yeah, pretty cool." Cheryl says and Toni stops in the middle of the trailer, "You've been on before, haven't you." she accuses and Cheryl nods.

"So annoying" Toni rolls her eyes and sits next to Cheryl, "how was it though?"

"He was nice, he kept interrupting me though. I was by myself last time, so it'll be nice to have you with me. As long as you don't yell at him for interrupting me, anyway." Cheryl says and licks her finger to flip the page of her book.

Cheryl smirks from behind her book, and Toni tucks her feet up on Cheryl's lap, "I hope I don't fuck up on live TV." Toni says and Cheryl taps her leg, "Maybe I'll do most of the talking."

"Yeah." Toni agrees, "You only have one scene left right? Will you wake me up after?" Toni mumbles into the couch and Cheryl says she will. 

Two long hours later, Cheryl grabs Toni's suitcase out of her trailer and goes to wake her up, "Time to wake up, TT." she crouches down in front of Toni and whispers. Toni wakes up, and grumbles like usual. "You were out for two hours." Cheryl says and Toni looks at her, "Really? Nice."

Toni sits up and stretches, "How'd that scene go?" she asks and Cheryl watches her stretch before she answers, "Oh. It was good, I guess I'm good at crying on command, or at least when I'm getting yelled at, even if it's acting." she says and Toni hums while she pulls her sweatshirt over her head.

"We just have that one scene left when we get back, and then we're done! I can't believe it's almost over already." Toni pulls on her shoes and chatters away, "We finish the whole dating thing after the premiere, right?" 

"Yeah, we have a lot to do in between the end of filming and the premiere though." Cheryl says and Toni stands, "Okay is it time to go to the big apple?" Toni looks excited, so Cheryl can't help but be excited too.

Toni has spent a lot of time in New York, actually. She went to NYU, Tisch to be specific, and she has quite a few old friends who still live in the city, and some she'd really like to avoid. Toward the end of her time in New York is when she got into a few bad habits, recreational drug use being one of them, until it wasn't really recreational anymore. 

They get on the private jet, courtesy of Universal Studios, and Toni is still thinking about people she hopes she doesn't see when she feels Cheryl shaking her out of her thoughts. 

"You okay? We're about to leave, buckle up." Cheryl says and waits for an answer.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Toni buckles, "I just haven't been to New York in a long time."

"Right, you went to school here, didn't you?" Cheryl asks and Toni nods.

"Yup. And I auditioned and got my first movie here, it went to Sundance. I wasn't a huge role, but it got me out to LA." Toni says and Cheryl nods along. 

"So you know people in the city then, anyone coming to see you?" Cheryl asks and Toni thinks she might be alluding to her family, but she doesn't really have any. 

"Nope. There are some people I'd rather not deal with are in the city...but no family coming. What about you?"

Cheryl shakes her head, "No, my brother came the first time I was on Fallon, and he's busy tonight so I told him he didn't have to. He's in Boston. So it looks like it's just me and you then." Cheryl takes out her laptop and starts to type, so Toni starts to mess around on her phone and look out the until they get there. They talk over what they can do before the show and places Toni just has to show Cheryl-according to Cheryl. 

It's still a little awkward between them, like neither of them want to have a repeat of their bickering the other day. Because while they are good at being friends, they're also really good at being enemies, apparently. They both said things that went to far, and they both remember it, so they're both reeling it back and letting the dust settle.

They get in a cab at the airport, and Toni has an idea. "Why don't we just hang out now, and we can go out after the show." She suggests and Cheryl agrees, "Okay, but won't it be late?"

"The city never sleeps, Cher." Toni pats her thigh and looks out the window, "it's been a long time." she says to herself.

Cheryl leaves her room about an hour later, and knocks on Toni's door. "I'm bored" she says when Toni opens it, and Toni laughs. "Same. I was about to text you, actually." she holds up her phone to show her, and there Cheryl sees her name with the lipstick kiss emoji next to it. She pretends she doesn't see it, but she's happy she did. 

Toni waves her into her room when she turns to grab a jacket, and Cheryl sees a pack of cigarettes on the bedside table. "You smoke?" she asks without thinking and Toni grunts. "Trying not to." she says and buttons up a button on her dark trench coat. Cheryl looks at her outfit; she's wearing a "I heart NY" T-shirt, probably as a joke, tan converse, and ripped jeans. Cheryl hums at Toni's answer, not bothering to get into whatever Toni's situation is right now. Later, though. 

"Quite the outfit you've got on there." She says and Toni raises her eyebrows, "What? Is it bad?" she spins and looks at herself.

"No, I meant I like it." Cheryl rolls her eyes at Toni's cheeky smile at her admission. "Well you could've just said that." she says, and pushes Cheryl out of her room and onto the elevator.

"So where are we going?" Cheryl asks and Toni checks her watch- it isn't her usual watch, it's fancy for Toni's style, and Cheryl thinks she sees spots diamonds on it.

"I could use a coffee, so we can go to this place nearby and then-" Toni stops when Cheryl reaches for her watch.

"When did you get this?" Cheryl can't help but ask and Toni blushes, "It's from a friend from home. Special occasions." she explains and all Cheryl can think is how cute Toni is right now. The bell dings and they move to walk out. Cheryl is still holding her wrist, so she slips her hand down into Toni's and pulls her out.

Toni shows her a coffee shop nearby, and they walk around for hours. She even sneaks her into an NYU building and brings her to the roof because it's her favorite view of the city, "I sat in this building for hours a week. I got used to the view, and now I miss it all the time", she says. Cheryl listens to all of her stories about messing around in college, and allows Toni pull her around the city with her hand in hers with no complaints, even if it's freezing. 

Eventually, it's time to go do the show. They walk there, seeing as their outfits are already there, and Toni stops around the corner to stare up at the building. "I went to Saturday Night Live a couple times." she says and turns to Cheryl, "I can't really believe this. This is kind of like a 'you made it' moment." 

Cheryl lets her take it all in for a minute, but wraps her arm around her shoulder when they need to get going, "You did make it, Toni. Now you have to make it inside. Don't be nervous, I'll be right here the whole time." she squeezes Toni's shoulder and she starts to walk them toward the building when Toni breathes out in relief. She's glad this is with Cheryl.

She doesn't see Toni for a little bit, and walks around looking for her for while, but can't seem to track her down. Finally, she comes to an open window at the end of the hall, and sees Toni blowing smoking out of it. Cheryl walks over and just as Toni finishes a hit, Cheryl pulls it out from between her fingers and throws it on the floor, stomping on it quickly.

"You don't smoke at the tonight show." she says and Toni turns to face her, relief flooding her features when she realizes it's just Cheryl, "Oh it's just you, I thought you were like, a show runner or something." she says and closes the window.

Cheryl is distracted by Toni's outfit for the second time tonight, Toni is wearing a white button-up that isn't buttoned up all the way, and a black blazer with black pants to match, and it's hot. Like, really hot. Cheryl can't stop herself from reaching out and touching Toni's chest that's left exposed by her shirt. Toni breathes in shakily, "Don't do that, I'm already nervous." she says and puts her hand on top of Cheryl's.

"I make you nervous?" Cheryl smiles, and makes no move to take her hand off of Toni.

Toni rolls her eyes, "Stop it. Of course you do." she looks in Cheryl's eyes and is met with a familiar look. She doesn't move away when Cheryl leans in and kisses her cheek, and then one on her neck, and another below her ear. Toni shivers and Cheryl smirks, "Now you can be less nervous about the show." she says with a smirk. "Come on, I was looking for you anyway. We should get to the stage." Toni follows her down the hallway's turns, her heart still beating quickly, for a completely different reason than before. 

"You ready?" Cheryl asks her with a dizzying smile when they get to their entrance, "I hope so." she says and Cheryl squeezes her hand.

Jimmy announces them and Cheryl goes first, giving him a hug like an old friend, and Toni just hugs him lightly for a second before she takes her seat on the other side of Cheryl. Cheryl is in the corner of the couch closest to Jimmy, and Toni sits right next to her. The crowd is cheering and when she waves, they get louder. Jimmy then turns to talk to them, "So it's great to see you both, and I am so excited for this movie!" He says and the crowd claps again. 

"Can you tell me anything about it?" he looks to Cheryl, who shakes her head, "Not much but the trailer" she says and he turns to Toni, "I have a reputation for accidentally saying something I'm not supposed to on live TV, so if anyone is going to spill, it'll have to be Cheryl." Toni says and taps Cheryl's arm. Jimmy laughs and so does the audience. "Fair enough" he says and moves on to the next question. 

"So, Toni. This is your first time on the show, and when it was Cheryl's first time I found a picture of her falling off a curb outside a bar." Toni chuckles and nods, unsure where this could be going. "But this is what I found on you." he says and holds up a picture of Toni in a musical at school.

"Oh god" Toni covers her face and leans back in her chair. "I know exactly what that is." she says from behind her hands, and Cheryl takes the picture from Jimmy, laughing already.

Cheryl gives it back after a second, and then the camera zooms in on it. The picture shoes sixteen year old Toni as Elpheba in her school's version of Wicked, and her face is green.

She pulls Toni's hands from her face and smirks at her deep blush, "Hey, I think mine was kind of worse." she says and looks back to Jimmy, "That one is kind of cute, because it was a long time ago, but mine was like a week before I got on the show." Jimmy starts laughing way too hard, and Toni finally sits back up after her embarrassment.

Cheryl feels Toni finally relax next to her, and reaches for her hand, settling their joined hands on her lap.

"So, you know there's a whole other half of the couch you can sit on, right?" Jimmy asks and the audience laughs for a second. Cheryl looks to Toni with a little smile, and answers Jimmy, "She never leaves me. alone. Can't get enough of me." 

Jimmy laughs, "You've mentioned this is how she is on set, too. Did you two hit it off right away on set?"

Toni finally chimes in, "Well I was actually nervous to meet Cheryl, since this is kind of new to me. So she showed me around a little bit."

"I think she had a little crush on me." Cheryl says and Toni pulls her hand away, "I'm being teamed up on here" she says with a little laugh, turning away to face the crowd, who laughs at her speaking to them as if they are on stage too.

Jimmy agrees, "I think she still does." he says and Cheryl nods, "Well I have a little crush on her too, even if she's really annoying."

Toni shrugs at that, "That's no way to talk about your girlfriend, is it?" she smirks and Cheryl blushes.

"Well I guess that's the big announcement!" Jimmy says, "We'll be right back with a fun game." he says and they go to commercial.

Cheryl pushes Toni's shoulder lightly when the lights are off, and Jimmy leans over the desk.

"That was the most fun interview I've had in weeks! You are so fun together." he walks over to the cameras and Cheryl turns to Toni.

"You could've given a girl a warning." she says and fixes her hair. Toni shakes her head, "No, it was way more fun that way. I can't wait to see your reaction on twitter later."

Cheryl turns to Toni, "That was good though, we do actually look fun together." she says and Toni leans in to whisper something like it's a secret, "You know why we look like we have fun together? Because we do. I'm not even acting right now, really. And neither are you."

Cheryl leans back and looks at Toni, seeing a completely serious look on her face. "You don't think so?"

"I know so" Toni challenges and Cheryl smirks, "whatever you say Topaz." she reaches out and tugs at Toni's collar so it's not crooked.

"See? You're already trying to take my clothes off." Toni says and Cheryl shakes her head in an adoring laugh. Cheryl is caught up in her thoughts for a moment, if the crowd can see it, and Toni can see it, does that mean it's as real as she feels?

Jimmy runs back over, and the lights turn back before she can really even react to Toni.

"Okay! So here's the game; one of you puts headphones on, and the other answers a question, and then we see if you both have the same answer. Make sense? Okay, Toni here you first."

Toni takes the headphones, "I'm kind of nervous, don't tell my secrets." she points to Cheryl with a fake smile and puts the headphones on.

While Toni can't hear, Jimmy asks Cheryl "What is the craziest thing Toni has done on set?"

Cheryl laughs, unsure, "I don't really know, she isn't that crazy on set. I don't think this is that crazy, but she was drinking with one of our friends, Reggie, because she was done for the day, but they called her back to set and did a scene drunk." Cheryl nods, "yeah, we'll see if you can tell which one it is."

Jimmy laughs, "That's good! I'll call her when it comes out and guess until I can get it."

Cheryl turns and pulls the headphones off of Toni gently so she won't mess her hair up. 

"Okay Toni, Cheryl's question was what the craziest thing you did on set was." he says and Toni nods.

Toni bites her lip and looks to Cheryl, "Oh god. I can't think of anything too crazy, maybe that time I threw an egg at Reggie?" Toni shrugs and Cheryl shakes her head.

"Okay, Cheryl's turn now."

"What, wait what did you say? Now I'm nervous" Toni hands over the headphones and Cheryl shrugs, "I guess you'll have to watch the show." she says and Jimmy laughs loudly.

Toni smiles with a shake of her head, and when Cheryl can't hear, he asks Toni her question. "So Toni, what are the best and worst parts of working with Cheryl?" Toni shifts nervously, her hand falling on Cheryl's leg for some comfort, but after a second she has her answer.

"Umm, well the best part of working with Cheryl is that she is so easy to work with because she is so so so talented, and she has been the best part of the whole movie for me. Besides the actual movie, obviously." Toni stumbles over the last part, flushing and hoping she didn't say the wrong thing.

"And the worst?" Jimmy prompts and Toni shakes her head, "There's nothing bad about working at Cheryl. Besides that she's distracting to look at.." Toni chuckles and the audience 'awws'.

"Alright, I guess I'll let you get away with that. Let's see what Cheryl says." and Jimmy waves his hand in front of her face and Cheryl pulls the headphones off.

She looks to Toni with her eyebrows raised, and Toni just looks at her for a second.

Jimmy snaps her out of it when he asks Cheryl what she thinks Toni's answer will be, and Cheryl looks a little stumped, "I don't know, I think she would say the worst part is probably...that she's always late to our scenes together because I get there earlier." Cheryl smiles when Toni shrugs and says, "She's right I'm always late, but that's not what I said."

"Okay and the best part? Is it that you like to come watch me do my scenes?" Cheryl looks to Toni, and she shakes her head.

"Seriously? What did she say?" she looks to Jimmy, "I guess you'll have to watch the show." he jokes and Toni gets up to fist bump him.

"That's all the time we have with Cheryl Blossom and Toni Topaz! Stick around to see a surprise performance!" Jimmy stands and hugs them both as they leave the stage.

\- 

"That went well, I think." Cheryl says while they walk side by side back to their dressing rooms, "Yeah me too. What did you say about me?" Toni looks nervous and Cheryl shakes her head.

"Oh nothing bad, T. Just that time you did a scene a little buzzed. Kind of impressive, actually." Toni breathes out in relief. "Oh. I don't know what I thought it would have been."

Cheryl regards Toni seriously, "Toni, first of all you haven't really done anything crazy on set, so what would I have said? Second, I would never say anything bad about you." Cheryl holds their eye contact until Toni breaks it, "I know, I trust you Cheryl."

"I'm going to go change, do you want to wait for me here?" Cheryl asks and Toni says no, "I'm just changing my shirt, so I'll meet you outside." she says and walks into her room.

"Wait, Toni, what did you say about me?" Cheryl asks before Toni closes her door and Toni re-opens it only to say "We can watch the show later, you can see then." she says and closes it.

Cheryl pouts to herself, wondering what Toni could have said that she didn't guess. Did Toni actually hate things about working with her?

Toni walks down the stairs, without looking up; when she does, there's a group of paparazzi surrounding the door. She thinks about going back inside, but what's the harm in a question or two?

"Is it true you and Cheryl Blossom are together?"

"Where is Cheryl?"

"Rumors are that you cheated on Cheryl with Veronica Lodge?"

"Can you tell us about the past year for you?"

Toni is overwhelmed, to say the least, but she starts to answer the questions for good press purposes.

"Yes, I'm waiting for Cheryl right now, actually. The pretty ones take the longest to get ready." she says and hears even more questions being yelled after that, "As for Veronica, she's just a good friend of mine."

They all jump back to life when the door opens and Cheryl comes out. Toni grabs her hand right away and shields her from the crowd on their way past. 

"Making friends?" Cheryl nudges her and Toni shrugs, "Hardly. Just answering some questions while I waited." she says and Cheryl pulls her hand out of hers.

Toni frowns, but tucks her hand in her pocket. Why is Cheryl opposed to holding her hand all of a sudden? Was it what she said earlier? Toni is left to wonder while Cheryl rambles on about a bar they just passed, and how she heard of it through friends. Toni just nods along, and finally stops at a bar-restaurant not to far down the road. She opens the door for Cheryl and walks in behind her.

"For two, near the bar please."

The woman brings them over, and Toni sits facing the TV's at the bar.

Cheryl picks up her menu and reads it right away. She's starving after barely eating earlier, and Toni must have been able to tell, because this place has exactly what she needs; just bar food, no fancy crap. She rests her leg against Toni's below the table, and Toni's gave shifts from the game to her, confused. Toni looks like she might say something at first, but she just gives it up and goes back to the game.

Toni is used to not talking things over with Cheryl at this point, because trying gets her nowhere. Just looking at Cheryl causes her to lose her train of thought, and forget she was even mad about anything. She knows Cheryl is attracted to her, which is obvious by the way she kisses her; she can pretend it's fake all she wants, but isn't, and the way she's shifting her legs against Toni's is another obvious sign of attraction, but Toni can't tell it there are any real feelings Cheryl is hiding for her.

They order after a while of waiting, and Cheryl looks at Toni funnily. "what is it?" Toni says without looking up from her phone and Cheryl pulls a face. 

"How could you tell I was looking at you?" 

"I just could" Toni kicks her leg under the table, "now what is it?" she smirks.

"Nothing, I just like spending time with you. I was just thinking that." Cheryl says it easily and Toni is a little surprised that she admitted that to her without any convincing.

"Oh. Well I like spending time with you, too." Toni says and sits up, scooting her chair closer to the table.

Cheryl just smiles sweetly at her and looks around the bar. Toni follows her gaze, and thinks about what she just said. Sure, that was nice of her to say, and Toni needed to hear some sort of reassurance, but she doesn't want to read too much into it. She breathes out and just lets it go for now, choosing to talk about other things and how asking Cheryl thinks the movie will turn out.

They share a nice dinner, and Toni pays even though Cheryl fought her for it. "Let's go to the hotel. I wanna watch it back with you." Toni looks to her watch and back to Cheryl. Cheryl who is just looking at her like she put the stars in the sky, but all she did was pay for dinner. Toni meets her eyes with a shy quirk of a smile. They sit there, just looking at each other like they are trying to read the other's minds, until Toni stands up and offers her arm to Cheryl. There's something they are both thinking, but she doesn't know what it could be.

But when Cheryl takes her arm, she feels reassured for some reason.

"Come to my room?"

"Yes ma'am" Toni bumps Cheryl's hip and turns to her room.

"I'll be right back." she says and runs into her room quickly. She throws on sweats, and when she gets back to Cheryl's room the door is cracked open for her.

She closes it behind her and calls out for Cheryl, "I'm already in bed." she says and Toni rounds the corner to see Cheryl sitting in her bed, under the white fluffy colors with a black sweatshirt and glasses on so she can see the TV. "You look so cute." Toni can't help herself, and Cheryl just smiles.

Toni gets in next to her, leaving some space between them, "Did it start yet?"

"Yea. We missed the first part." Cheryl says and huffs, scooting closer to Toni.

After a few commercials, "We're okay, right?" Cheryl asks and Toni nods.

S

he looks confused, "What do you mean? Why wouldn't we be" Toni snaps her gum and looks sideways to Cheryl.

"I know just- I don't know it hasn't felt the same." Cheryl looks worked up and Toni gets it, she really does.

"We'll go back to normal." Toni attempts to reassure Cheryl, but it only seems to upset her for some reason.

"I don't want to go back to normal" Cheryl confesses, looking down at her hands.

"What?" Toni leans down and tries to catch her eyes.

"What are we doing, Toni?" Cheryl looks up and Toni is dumbfounded, naturally. What is she supposed to say? They're friends. Obviously...

Toni opens her mouth to answer, unsure herself what she's going to say, when Cheryl sticks her hand out, "It's back on." Toni sighs and sits up to watch.

"Tell your stylist they did a good job, from me." Cheryl says, her eyes on Toni.

"Sure thing" Toni's answer is half-assed, still wondering what the hell that was while Cheryl is all excited. "I want to know what you said about me!" Toni gulps, because she could go two ways with this. She could say that she was just going along with the fake thing, and really selling it- or she could say that she meant it, and wants to kiss Cheryl senseless every minute of every day.

While Toni is thinking this, Cheryl is hearing what she said while her headphones were on. When it's back to commercial, Cheryl turns the TV off, and Toni is looking at her with something she just can't place.

"You meant that?" she asks incredibly softly, like she might break if Toni says she doesn't.

"I wouldn't have said it if I didn't. There's nothing bad about you, really." Toni says back and wonders what is going to happen now. Is it obvious that she's helpless for Cheryl?

Cheryl pushes the blanket off, and sits on her knees facing Toni.

"I'm not acting anymore, you're right." she whispers and Toni nearly chokes on the air she's breathing.

"I don't think I was ever acting" Toni says and Cheryl looks down and observes Toni's face, searching for truth. Toni lets her, observing Cheryl in a similar way. It's silent other than the sound of their breathing, and then Cheryl reaches out to caress Toni's cheek.

Toni's eyes flutter shut at the contact, and while they're shut, Cheryl finally closes the distance between them. Toni's lips reciprocate right away, and it's a soft kiss until Toni tugs Cheryl by her sweatshirt, and she falls right into Toni's lap. Toni takes advantage of Cheryl's shock, and deepens the kiss, making Cheryl gasp into her mouth when she grasbs at her hips.

Cheryl pulls back after a minute, but not far. She's right in Toni's face when she whispers, "stay with me tonight?" it sounds more like she's telling Toni she has to than asking, but of course Toni will stay with her, no complaints. She nods, and pushes Cheryl onto her back, giggling while Cheryl yelps in surprise.

They wake up the next morning to the light coming through the windows; Cheryl didn't get around to closing the curtains last night. Toni is tucked into Cheryl's side, her arm resting on Cheryl's hip underneath her sweatshirt. Cheryl is facing Toni with her arms wrapped around her, and her face pressed up against Toni's.

Toni stirs slightly, and Cheryl almost doesn't catch it at first, but then Toni stretches her arm across Cheryl's body and opens her eyes. Cheryl waits for her to fully wake up before she says anything, and just watches her adjust to the morning light. She rests her head on her hand and looks down at Toni- she looks so adorable in the sun, with her hair all over the pillow and even a few pieces streaking across her face.

Finally, after five minutes, Toni opens her eyes and the first thing she sees is Cheryl, looking right back at her. Toni rolls on her side and scratches at Cheryl's hip while she does, enjoying the look on Cheryl's face. The smaller girl tucks her head back in to Cheryl, and they continue to enjoy their morning of just laying around with each other until Toni decides to speak up. "What time is it?" Toni croaks out and Cheryl answers, "It's nine." she says, still playing with Toni's hair.

"You clearly aren't a morning person, then." Cheryl observes and Toni hums, "That shouldn't be a surprise. Didn't expect you to be a late sleeper, though." Toni finally actually looks at Cheryl.

"I hate mornings, I love sleeping though."

"Me too" Toni says and reaches for Cheryl's hand to lace their fingers together. 

"Two late sleepers make for a less than motivated couple." Cheryl says easily and Toni answers before she even realizes what Cheryl just said.

"We're motivated, we just- wait what? Did you just say relationship?" Toni was more than ready for this discussion, but she didn't expect Cheryl to be the one to start it.

"Uh-huh, I did.

"You did" a smile breaks across Toni's face and Cheryl leans down to kiss it.That's how they spend the rest of their morning; lazy kisses and rolling around under the covers.

After the morning, Toni thinks they might've actually moved past the need to be communicating all the time, they lay in comfortable silence, and know what the other is thinking. Maybe it was worth it to not say anything last night, she thinks as Cheryl's hands press against her hips, gripping them tighter when Toni tugged at her hair.

They take their time getting out of bed, but Cheryl ushers them along because they have a twelve o'clock flight. By the time they are on the elevator to leave the hotel, it seems like they'll actually be on time for their flight.

Until Cheryl pulls the 'stop elevator' lever, and presses Toni up against the wall. Toni chuckles into her mouth, and pulls back for a second, "If I had known you'd kiss me like that all the time, I might've said something sooner" she whispers, and pushes Cheryl against the opposite wall. For the next ten minutes, they make out in the elevator like horny teenagers.

When the elevator dings again, they both make sure they look like they didn't just jump each other on the way down. Cheryl looks in the mirror to fix her lipstick- she went for a much more chic airport look than Toni did.

So when they walk outside to the paparazzi parade that Cheryl's manager called on the hotel, Toni has red lipstick smeared on her lips, and Cheryl is wearing red lipstick. Cheryl finds the pictures adorable.

By the time the plane lands, Toni is asleep on Cheryl's lap.

"Will you come over tonight? And stay over so we can eat pizza and be lazy on the couch?" Toni asks and Cheryl smiles down at her.

"I can't think of anything better."

-

**Author's Note:**

> This is like the longest fic I've ever written...it took me like 5 days, but I love how it turned out for the most part. I'm also horrible at titles lol I have no idea what to call this, but let me know what you think!!! I love AUs like this, so I thought I had to write one for these two, and I might write some more.
> 
> Thanks!!


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